Was reading the TechCrunch story on Disney distributing its high-budget linear-video productions through Hulu rather than YouTube. Makes sense — Google’s model is to commoditize all content and then sell audiences to advertisers. Creative work is usually compensated best when there’s a direct link between creators and audiences, not when there’s a monolithic gatekeeper in the middle. Makes sense that Disney would bond with other creators, rather than insert Google between Disney and their audiences.
The way Google republished books under copyright without the creators’ consent probably hurt them greater than they could have anticipated. I lost faith in “Don’t Be Evil” back when they stonewalled on perpetual cookies, and got radicalized when Google hired MoveOn to lobby for commoditizing connectivity. Treating Silicon Valley personalities as deities is much weirder than realizing they’re fallible humans, just like the rest of us.
Creators of digital communications which others wish to view are not serfs on some advertising farm. Each creator should be free to choose their distribution strategy to their own audiences. I don’t watch Hulu’s content myself, but I’m glad they’re developing alternative distribution strategies. Monoculture often becomes surprisingly expensive.